Volunteers are preparing Asian cooking. (picture of Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Mahjong and home cuisine have become a good medicine for elders in Perth Chinese community to ease loneliness, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Tan Linshi (Shiah Lam Tan, and a group of volunteers are busy preparing a home meal for visitors in the kitchen room of (Chung Wah Community and Aged Care), a Chinese community and elderly service center.
Tan Linshi, from Malaysia, likes cooking and often sends home flavor to visitors from Southeast Asia and mainland in China. "Today we have porridge, pork balls, and noodles. We season the noodles and stir-fry them with the rest of the meat," she said.
It is reported that most visitors do not speak English very well. The day care center provides them with the opportunity to go out of their homes and communicate in their mother tongue.
All the volunteers at the center wear T-shirts with the words "Kindness", and the idea of caring for the elderly is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. "according to Chinese tradition, after we have children, we hope that our children will one day take care of us, just as we used to take care of our parents," Tan said.
Outside the hall, many visitors are playing mahjong, playing cards, playing chess, or playing tai chi and singing karaoke.
Geok Pelips Phee, a volunteer from Malaysia's immigrant Australia 30 years ago, said many visitors were lonely at home. "Their children and grandchildren are not at home and can't communicate with them. In the formal sense, we should teach them to dance, but unfortunately, the old man can't jump, so we can only teach some basic things."
When Pei Yugang came to the center, most of the visitors came from Singapore and Malaysia, but gradually, Chinese mainland immigrants came and everyone loved to play mahjong.
"in fact, older people are advised to play mahjong because it allows you to remember cards so that you don't have dementia."
Elderly people who play mahjong in Chinese community and service centres for the elderly. (picture of Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Volunteer Liao Ken (Ken Liao, said Chinese community and elderly service centres are important because Chinese community elders are more likely to spend their twilight years at home than stay in live a retired life homes. "I think they basically have the same Chinese cultural background, celebrate the same festivals and speak the same language-mostly Mandarin, as well as Cantonese."
Philip King (Phillip Ong), who has worked as a volunteer for four years at the center, is watching a 102-year-old Chinese-American concentrate on chess.
Mr. Wang said he "came to Australia from (Surabaya), Surabaya, Indonesia, in 1995, whose mother tongue is Indonesian, and has since studied English and Putonghua." This enabled him to communicate with the old people in the center now.
"now that I have retired, I am using my time to help the sick old man."